Recently I’ve acquired a few albums I wanted to quickly mention, one of them worth exploring.
Oscar Peterson, Oscar Peterson’s Finest Hour
2007 Compilation, recordings from 1950-1965
This CD contains some fast moving tracks, skillfully and blazingly played, by who I consider the greatest jazz/blues pianist who ever lived. For me, Peterson really comes into his own while playing romantic, breezy or contemplative solo piano, and these recordings are brilliant but high tempo. The real issue I have with this album is the recording quality, which is clawingly bad while listening to this great music.
I bought the album because of the tracks I hadn’t heard, plus a temptation to get another version of Mumbles with Clark Terry, if another version even existed than the one on Trio Plus One. It’s basically Oscar Peterson on piano and Clark Terry mumbling to the music, but it’s great jazz and fun to listen to.
George Gershwin, Essential George Gershwin
2003 Compilation, recordings from 1920-1937
This two disc album has some striking recordings of some of the most classic Gershwin tunes. The songs all have vocalists and it is great to hear the songs as they were originally intended – sometimes I think an instrumental version gives so much power to the performer that the resulting version of a song can become completely different and unrecognizable. This might say more about Oscar Peterson, for example, or John Coltrane if it were a sax set. Here you hear Gershwin as it was intended. The vocalists are great, but they do use that shimmery vocal style popular with music of the 1920s and 30s. The recording quality ranges from fair to excellent.
I think this is a thorough compilation with some great period editions of Gershwin tunes. However, I would not recommend it to early Gershwin listeners because there are much more accessible versions of his tunes. For that, I would definitely recommend Oscar Peterson’s The Gershwin Songbooks or any of Thelonious Monk’s classic versions of these infinitely romantic melodies.
